I am sure the fan-kids of this generation enjoys Wrestlemania and wrestling pretty much the same way we did when we were kids. It's just us getting older and more cynical. I also believed in Santa Claus, put playing cards on my bikes wheels to persuade myself i was riding a motorcycle, and I thought Weird Al was the funniest person alive. Oh well...

Back then, there was still an element of kayfabe, where we pretended we didn't know what was going on behind the scenes. We preferred it that way. Nowadays we are saturated with the truth, be it from the companies making great pains to show us that everything is safe and above board or our new found ability to analyse the living hell out of every little component of the product.

Yeah, that's true. With everyone exploiting the backstage politics and how they "Work" with others instead of "fighting"
or "facing" them. And kids are being exposed to this, liking it, then suddenly told, "It's all a work, you know it, we know it, the world knows it" right there from the same source.

CM Punk's promo in 2011 really made us happy and blew our funky minds, but probably really warped the kids' fragile little minds. He had a lot of truth in it.

Yeah, that's true. With everyone exploiting the backstage politics and how they "Work" with others instead of "fighting"
or "facing" them.

Minor quibble and not necessarily a disagreement with the opinion expressed, but is anyone else irritated by how, primarily because Vince hates the word "wrestling"--despite it being in his company's name!--and barred WWE announcers from using it, substituting "fighting" instead, so many others have followed suit (including, lamely, TNA) rather than protest the absurdity of using the term? What occurs in a wrestling ring is not fighting, regardless of what JBL bellows. It's wrestling.

Minor quibble and not necessarily a disagreement with the opinion expressed, but is anyone else irritated by how, primarily because Vince hates the word "wrestling"--despite it being in his company's name!--and barred WWE announcers from using it, substituting "fighting" instead, so many others have followed suit (including, lamely, TNA) rather than protest the absurdity of using the term? What occurs in a wrestling ring is not fighting, regardless of what JBL bellows. It's wrestling.

(And don't even get me started on "superstars.")

OK, I won't. Just like how I hate hearing the fans being called or even hate the very uttering of, "WWE Universe" or "WW Universe" as said by John Cena and Michael Cole most of the time.

I used to get mad at the product because i felt that it refused to grow up with me. I started watching in the days of the ultimate warrior and knew i was a life long fan when i was introduced to the heart break kid. The attitude era mirrored my adolesence in middle school but after that it started seeming more and more to me like i was out growing it and that bothered me because i really love pro wrestling, especially the wwe. And this disgruntlement followed me until this years elimination chamber. While it was an ok ppv and my highlight being swaggers victory, i couldnt help but watch my 6 year old daughters reactions to the show more so than the show itself. She was hanging on every word in every promo. Every move came off devistating to her. Thats when it all sprt of clicked for me. I got it. Yes im out growing the product but thats my fault, not theirs. I got hung up on who is getting pushed amd who isnt, backstage politics amd general bs that she didnt know about. So my daughter actually taught me something and ive been viewing the product differently since. Yes, i still keep up with all the backstage bs but i just decided not to give a shit about it anymore and just watch the program and enjoy it fpr what it is. Essentially, watching it as a kid again. And i havent been this happy with what im seeing in a long time.